10/13/20 EDIT: Inclusion of side character, extra time spent in the Circle, new dialogue added.
12/1/20 EDIT: Actually forgot I already edited this chapter and uploaded. Changed who was with Duncan when Aria got to her room
It was unclear how long Aria's trip in the basements of Kinloch Hold was and how long she had until the sun would begin to rise on Ferelen. And yet she spent the first five minutes climbing the stairs to the Senior Enchanter dormitories to knock on the door of Senior Enchanter Ramona Leopold. Brown eyes looked up at the intimidating woman who opened her door with an expectant expression.
Neither needed to say a word, the tan skinned woman simply moved to allow the elf entrance to her quarters. It took no longer for her to cross the room to find a seat before the elf heard the door click shut and the scones around the room burst to life with a wave of the older womans' hand.
Senior Enchanter Remona-From Aria's sparse understanding of her personal life outside the Ferelden Circle- was once a Mortalitasi in training in her homeland of Navarra. Aria could not remember what she had said to explain how she had come to be in Ferelden's Circle. Aria had barely been seven and the two had hardly spoken a word before the young girl had been swept up in the older mage's no nonsense tutelage.
Rumor was that she had been a fugitive before being apprehended by Templars in the Edgehall arling before being brought here. However, from experience Aria learned not to pry into the woman's history.
Aria and Ramona knew each other far too well. Of course, when you are before the person that took control of your early education you are bound to pick up a few habits.
The fact that the older woman was silent was enough to tell her the navarren knew something was up.
Remona sat across from the younger woman and crossed her olive colored legs. Sharp green eyes stared at her expectantly.
"Apologies...for waking you Enchanter Remona." Aria mumbled before taking a heavy breath in.
"Things have happened."
"I figured, the Templars were jumpy before they up and file down the stairs to the main floor. What has happened?"
"I may have just help a blood mage escape and got a chantry sister arrested." Aria muttered into her hands as she brought them to run through her short hair. A haunted shadow in her large eyes. Ramona was silent as Aria continued to clinch her fingers through her hair. The tug was a consistent sting as she looked at the intricately woven nevarren rug under the chairs they sat in.
"Jowan is a blood mage and I-I helped him run. He never-I never-He's going to get himself killed because blood magic is…" the elf felt her body coil into itself, tighter and tighter. Her entire being felt tense. It felt as if her body was a snake, cornered and afraid and about to strike out blindly at the first thing to poke it.
She just helped someone she thought she could trust and had that trust crushed with a single omitted truth.
"Jowan he just-" The elves voice cut off with a squeak. Pressure behind her eyes built as she struggled to maintain some semblance of sense. Her body, however, seemed to have different idea's and decided it was time to cry.
She sniffled, rubbed at her eyes with a sleeve and tried to swallow back a cry. All the while, Ramona sat and watched with nothing to say. She simply waited.
Eventually, she did get herself together enough to finished explaining.
"H-he ran off and left me in a room with angry templars. Tha-that visiting Grey Warden just conscripted me."
The dark skinned woman was silent for a stretch of time, her eyes bore into the elf with a familiar intensity. As a much younger apprentice, that look had often left Aria nervous and squirming.
Then, they hummed.
"Well, slap my tits and call me Andraste, you've gotten yourself in deep shit, haven't you?"
The rough comment left the elf curled up in her seat with a tired groan. She didn't know what was going to happen to her. She's never actually used her magic beyond conditioning it and her only true combat experience was during the Harrowing. If She left this tower-no matter how good that would feel-she was going to die.
A part of her brain pointed out that she would die if she stayed too, but she tried not to think that hard about that. Funny how all her life she wanted nothing more than to leave the oppressive walls of the chantry, but when shoved towards the first chance she gets she shys away.
"So, you'll be one of those wardens then?" Ramona surmised. "Well, don't die out there girl, make the most of the world outside this tower."
"But how? Enchanter Ramona, I have no illusions that I will be little more than fodder for where I will be heading. That man, Duncan, he said war was coming. I don't think I'll be able to survive long enough to even enjoy the world outside." Aria mused solemnly.
The other huffed, a sneer lifted Ramona's painted lips. The heat behind the look wasn't near as harsh as it could be, but the effect was still there and the elf straightened her spine. Her mentor cast a hard glare towards her pupil.
"I taught you more than enough for you to survive despite your nature Aria." she reminded.
"The dead have it's uses and you will be around enough soon if you join this war effort of Warden Duncans'. You aren't stupid, make sure to stay alive and set fire to any that stand in your way. You're getting freedom from this place, don't squander it by lying down and dying."
Aria averted her eyes from her mentor and bit her lip. Her fingers dug self-consciously into her skirts of her robes.
"I make no promises." she huffed ruefully.
The bearded warden and Templar Cullen met her at the entrance of what would have been her own quarters had she, had the chance to use them. The young Templar stumbled through his relief that Aria was ok, that she escaped imprisonment or death. He gave her quiet, awkward praise that he thought she was amazing for being recruited into the Grey Wardens.
It left Aria a silent, equally awkward mess at the Templars' praise. Her eyes wide and dizzy, she simply made a high pitched, closed mouth noise before rushing to close the door so he would stop looking at her while she figured out how to feel about the man saying something nice to her.
He always tried to say nice things to her, she noticed. She just never really knew how to deal with it.
Muffled words were exchanged behind her closed door, but Aria paid it little mind as she looked through her trunk at an article of clothing here, a trinket there.
That pretty blue stone weighed heavily in her pocket.
What should she do with it? There hadn't really been much reason to keep it, it had only been her desire for even the slightest rebelion to lie and say she had taken nothing from the basements.
Retrieving the stone in question from her pocket to hold it in her hand. She ran her fingers over it as she sat on the floor, head leaning on her bed as she took a moment and just breathed.
Eventually, she decided the only things worth packing were a few clothes she had. She stuffed the stone back into her pocket and proceeded to stuff the few personal clothes she thought worth bringing with her into a satchel.
Getting to her feet, the mage didn't bother taking even a second glance at the room before she opened the door.
During the boat ride across the lake Aria was silent as the dead as she looked up at the cloudy sky and not once towards the keep at her back.
Before she knew it, a week had gone by since Aria left the Circle of Magi to travel with the Grey Warden Duncan to Ostagar. They traveled south through the Hinterland and last time she asked they were halfway to their destination. It was now early in the morning before the two would set off again to attempt traveling the rest of the way.
Aria opened her eyes to the darkness of her tent that Duncan had shown her how to set up the first time the set up camp to sleep. Even now her handy work was clumsy and inexperienced since while living in the Circle she had never had to do such a thing like sleep on the ground. Yet, while the beds there had been hard, they were after all still beds.
Rubbing her tired eyes free of the sleep that still gathered at the tips of her eyes she sat up slowly. It was rough getting up at a time where the sun had yet to rise, but each morning she witnessed it was like the first. Windows were never big or low enough for her to get to see the sky like she could now.
In fact, this had been the first time she's been outside since the time she lived as a servant elf's child. With her skinny arms stretching, muscles popping in relief, Aria threw the blankets from her form and crawled outside into the dark blue morning. The little mage had no qualms, walking out in just a worn white shirt several sizes too big, the mage's new mentor had lent it to her since she owned nothing but the mage's robes she wore before. Aria didn't mind the faint scent of blood she discovered the first time she put the cloth of her body. She knew what the Grey Wardens did from the stories she had read in the library and she knew what Duncan was capable of each morning before breakfast when she watched him loosen his muscles by drilling himself with the twin blades he would strap to his hips before they would set off.
"Good morning," came the gruff greetings of the human she traveled with. Already he was up, swords in each hand as he swiped the air in concentration.
"Morning…have you just started?" Aria asked watching his bare muscles work by the light of the bonfire. Her cheeks flushed each time she watched the man work, never getting you to the sight of an undressed chest. Keeping her eyes to the ground the elf found a seat by the pot this morning's stew will be cooked in; already the ingredients were placed inside, waiting for the heat of fire to set the water inside a boil.
"No, I will be finished momentarily so go ahead and put the pot on the fire if you please." Duncan answered. Wind whistled just feet away from the elf, the Warden resuming his warm ups.
With pot on the fire, Aria turned back to her mentor and watched the blades twist and turn in his deadly hands. Casting a glance to her own weapon, a worn metal staff, she felt a pang of jealously. She had no skill with a blade of any sort; she even once cut herself putting away a small meat knife. The young woman's lack of coordination did not stop her for having an interest with those who could handle them though, for she knew she would forever be stuck lugging around a staff taller than she.
"Aria, is there something on your mind?" Duncan's voice intruded into her thoughts causing her to start and look up at the man as he sheathed his swords. The elf shook her head quickly; her petty thoughts should be of no concern to him.
"Come now girl, you will be in my care until it is your time to join the Wardens. I would like to know what my recruits are thinking."
Brown eyes looked up once more to catch his honest stare.
"Your skill with blades…I find myself jealous of your skill where I only have clumsiness." She admitted. There was a chuckle as Duncan busied himself stirring the heating stew.
"Patience Aria, never be over eager to learn a new skill." He told her, "Now get dressed before the stew is finished. Nodding, the elf scurried back into her tent to dress in her mage's robes. There was a shuffle or two before she come back out and stood up to tie her belt around her hip. The pouch at her side shifted with weight. Eyebrows twitched upwards as she realized she had forgotten about the gemstone she 'borrowed' from the repository.
Unclasping the button that held the small bag closed Aria lifted the palm sized item and sat by the fire once more to stare sadly at it. She really loved the stone and how it lit up, but the terms on which she had taken it left a bad taste in her mouth. It reminded her of the fact she was betrayed by the one she trusted most.
"What's that you got there?"
Aria blinked away the pain that was probably evident in her eyes.
"….I lied when I told First Enchanter I didn't take anything from the repository." She enlightened.
"Well now, I didn't think a girl like you could lie."
"Mm…neither did I." shifting the stone in her hands at another angle she moved it closer to the fire light and watched it light up once more, sending dots of light across her face and Duncans' armor.
"I couldn't help myself really…It was a shame such a thing was hidden away."
"Is it magical, most things in the Circle are from my understanding." The Warden asked, but Aria shook her head.
"No, I sense no magical properties from within the stone, it isn't Lyrium either, it's just nature….Though now I don't believe I want it."
"Why is that?"
Aria went silent for a moment, unsure if she wanted to answer her mentor. What harm could it do? She was traveling with the man.
"It reminds me that I-I let a bloodmage escape…That the mage was…..was my friend and he lied to me!" New tears pricked the elf's eyes and she threw the stone away from her.
"That foolish man! If he had just trusted me he wouldn't have tried it, he knew it was evil, but he went and used it anyway!" her knees found their way to her chest and she wrapped her arms around her legs. Hiding her face in her knees she felt a stab of shame for losing her composure in front of Duncan. She hadn't wanted to remember just yet, not when she hadn't even gotten the chance to be a Warden.
There was a shuffle as her sharp elven ears picked up the sound of Duncan walking away. Her hidden face flushed at the embarrassment of crying like a child, she wanted to be more composed, almost cool, just as the Warden before her acted. But her control over her emotions was weak.
"Aria, lift your head." Duncan murmured, suddenly in front of her. Aria flinched and peaked through ruffled locks to see his stern expression.
"I understand your frustration on the matter. Watching a good friend lie to you, then run away to leave you with the brunt of the trouble. But, don't let emotions such as sorrow or rage control you. Use this experience to learn from so you won't make the mistake again." Grasping the elf's petite hand he set the stone in her palm. Aria stared at him wordlessly.
"But what if I start to trust again too easily?" she murmured.
"Then keep this stone as a reminder, not everyone is trustworthy."
"Not even yourself, at times." He quipped good naturedly.
Fixing her eyes on the stone, she saw her reflection in deep blue and sucked in a calming breath. Wiping the tears away, then looked to Duncan nodding once. The man pats her shoulder reassuringly then got to his feet.
"Alright then, time to eat."
On the move once again had the two traveling on foot until midday, the sun was high, but the downcast clouds blocked most of the light making the day dreary. This in turn, disappointed the young elf. She wanted to feel the sun. However, the fact she was outside at all and looking up at the cloud to find what kinds of shapes they made was a dream come true.
Of course this wasn't something new to her, she had been outside the Circle before, but Aria had only been but a child. Her memories of the outside before her humans sent her off were fuzzy, she hardly remembered her parents faces at that.
The dirt road wasn't just occupying Duncan and Aria then, for suddenly the elf felt a sharp jerk of her shoulder. Falling back, the mage hit the ground with an 'omph', a human stood over her with a cross look as he passed her by without so much as an 'excuse me'
"Stupid knife-ear…" was what she heard through a sharp intake of breath. There was no flinch from Aria, she heard it occasionally from the Templars back at the Circle Tower, it was nothing new.
Duncan turned back to Aria to give her a hand.
"Are you alright?" he asked. She nodded.
"Yes, just wasn't paying attention to the road."
"Looking up at the clouds then?" the man raised an amused brow, a smile form onto her lips.
"That one looks like a Lyrium crystal." The mage pointed up at a specific puffy cloud. Aria wasn't going to let people like that human ruin this time for her, she was free.
It wasn't long before the two were back in comfortable silence as they travel further. Occasionally, broken bits of rubble would be spotted here and there along the path.
Hours later when the random bit of rubble began to take shape into broken walls and collapsed pillars Aria knew they had made it to Ostagar. Stepping up to the edge of the cliff they were passing through she couldn't help but peak over the edge to the crumble fortress, it's honor still standing though most of its wall barely did.
Grey brick, overcast by the clouds as high as a quarter of the tower still stood strong, with pillars reaching high. What wasn't still together was reinforced with lumber and metal. From so high up Aria could make out dots of people on the inside as well as guards minding the few watch towers standing.
In just a few more minutes she would be done there as well, welcoming her chance to be something great.